The fact that I had a dentist appointment at 5pm on July 4th certainly wasn't very festive.
A big clue that it was an unusual weekend was when there was so much work to do for my job. All of us employees draw from a central depository of work and when it's gone, it's gone, (until it's replenished, of course). This weekend, it was never gone. It was just me, working away on the 4th of July like nobody's business. Also not festive.
Which means we're left with the bounty of almost-expired, on-sale chicken hot dogs we found at Carrefour that we grilled up for dinner. We invited over our American neighbors to share, and they brought along the fixings for banana splits.
Sadly, there were no fireworks.
I guess the 4th of July is one of those holidays that's hard to do on your own in a foreign country. We got lucky one year in Jordan when someone in our neighborhood set off some spectacular wedding celebration fireworks on the 4th of July, but otherwise, our overseas celebrations have been pretty tame. One of these years, we'll have to try to be in Oregon for the fabulous Oak Hills fireworks display on the 4th of July. As a kid, I remember being so impatient for it to get dark so the show could begin. I hope to give my girls the same experience...someday...